1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic musical instrument copying a so-called stringed instrument and capable of detecting a depression state on a fingerboard on the basis of an ON/OFF state of a contact formed on the fingerboard and determining the pitch of a musical tone to be generated. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electronic musical instrument of this type capable of detecting a position of depression in a single pitch designation area in a direction different from the longitudinal direction of a fingerboard and changing the value of a parameter of a musical tone to be generated on the basis of this detection result, thereby realizing, with a simple arrangement, a choking effect or the like of a normal stringed instrument.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present invention also relates to an electronic musical instrument capable of detecting a position of depression in a single pitch unit of a pitch designation area in the longitudinal direction of the fingerboard and changing the value of a parameter of a musical tone to be generated on the basis of this detection result, thereby realizing, with a simple arrangement, a vibrato effect or the like of a normal stringed instrument.
An electronic musical instrument, copying a so-called stringed instrument and capable of detecting a depression state on a fingerboard on the basis of an ON/OFF state of a contact formed on the fingerboard and determining the pitch of a musical tone to be generated, has been developed.
In a conventional electronic musical instrument of this type, however, only one contact for determining the pitch of a musical tone to be generated is formed in a single pitch unit (corresponding to a fret) of a single pitch designation area (corresponding to a single string).
Therefore, even if a depression state on a fret is changed (e.g., choked or vibrated) in a single pitch unit of a single pitch designation area, such a small depression state change cannot be detected and therefore cannot be reflected on a musical tone to be generated.
The present invention has been made to eliminate the above drawback of the conventional electronic musical instrument copying a so-called stringed instrument.